Godheads

Godheads and Other Stories is a collection of six short stories about the intersection between high weirdness and low mundaneness, and how even the very strange can see normal once you get used to it.

Come discover:

‘On the Redeye Express’: It’s about an hour or two into the ride when Nick realises that people are vanishing from the bus. He’s too tired to question it, and too worried that his girlfriend might dump him at the end of this trip – but when it keeps happening, what’s he going to do about it?

‘Metatext Otis’: One morning, Otis Blincher woke up to find he had turned into a Franz Kafka novel. What’s a man supposed to do when his day starts like that?

‘Objects Seen in Hindsight May be Deader than They Appear’: Armed only with a plastic homebirthing kit and some paperclips, Simon confronts the ghost of a ghost as part of his initiation into an order of paranormal investigators. But when a creature exists only in your memories, how are you supposed to fight it – and how can you trust what you learn about it?

‘The Salbine Incident’: Doctor Edward Sabine set out to prove the existence of the ghosts of fictional characters like Sherlock Holmes by creating his own. The results were… regrettable.

‘Meanwhile, at the End of Days’: Two pensioners wait for the bus. Meanwhile, Jesus Christ returns to Earth for the Second Coming. Is there time to make it to the Rapture and still get to the RSL in time for the bingo specials?

‘Godheads’: In an age where gods and spirits have been captured and rendered down into consumer drugs, Diane and Angela head out to their favourite club to get high and dance. But Diane’s too angry to have fun tonight – and convinced that something strange and dangerous threatens not just her relationship but reality itself.

Very strange worlds. Fairly ordinary people. Stories for all of them.

Some reviews:

This is a brilliant little collection: original, fast and heady, the literary equivalent of an absinthe shot.

Each short story in Godheads is a well-crafted, bite-size nugget that you can really get your teeth into. I like the way Patrick O’Duffy focuses each story on original and unsettling core concept, and populates it with quirky characters.

Some laugh-out-loud funny moments, and some substantially more serious ones, all mixed together in a quick, poppy read.

O’Duffy has a great sense of rhythm and his prose flows smoothly off the page. This is an author I’m keen to see more from.

Godheads and Other Stories can be purchased as a 99 cent ebook from the following sites: